Moira Kinross (Earth-616)
; | Relatives = Lord Alasdhair Kinross (ancestor, deceased); Queen Elizabeth II (distant relative); Lord Kinross (father, deceased); Joseph MacTaggert (ex-husband, deceased); Kevin MacTaggert (Proteus) (son, deceased); Rahne Sinclair (Wolfsbane) (foster daughter); Tier Sinclair (foster grandson, deceased) | Universe = Earth-616 | BaseOfOperations = Mutant Research Center, Muir Island, Scotland | Gender = Female | Height = 5'7" | Weight = 135 lbs | Eyes = Blue | Hair = Brown | UnusualFeatures = | Citizenship = United Kingdom | Citizenship2 = Scotland | MaritalStatus = Widowed | Occupation = Former geneticist, student | Education = Ph.D. in genetics | Origin = Human | PlaceOfBirth = Kinross Estate, Scotland | PlaceOfDeath = X-Men Blackbird | Creators = Chris Claremont; Dave Cockrum | First = X-Men #96 | Death = Chaos War: X-Men #2 | HistoryText = Early Life Dr. Moira MacTaggert is the daughter of the powerful Scots nobleman, Lord Kinross. She proved to be a brilliant student of the biological sciences with selected genetics as her specialty. As a University student, she met Charles Xavier, who was working toward a doctorate at Oxford University. Moira was dating Joseph MacTaggert at the time, but soon separated from him to see Charles exclusively. The two fell in love with each other immediately, and their romance lasted for years. Eventually they became engaged, but Joseph got into Charles' head and convinced him that he needed to serve in the armed forces before being a man worthy of Moira. She promised to wait for Charles until he was released from military service, but Joe weaseled his way back into Moira's heart once Charles was absent. Xavier received a letter from Moira breaking off their engagement without explanation and stating that she was returning to Scotland. Moira and Joe were soon married. Joseph MacTaggert proved to be a brutal husband. Moira eventually fled from him to New York City, but Joe tracked her down, beat her and assaulted her sexually, causing her to be hospitalized for a week and leaving her pregnant. From then on, Moira lived apart from her husband, although he refused to grant her a divorce, and she kept the fact that he had a son secret from him for twenty years. Genetic Scientist Moira MacTaggert led a brilliant career as one of the world's leading geneticists, earning a Nobel Prize for her work. She founded a Mutant Research Center on Muir Island off the coast of Scotland. Eventually she renewed contact with Xavier during a period he spent in England working on a degree in psychiatry. Xavier and MacTaggert discussed the possibility of establishing a school for training, superhuman mutants in the use of their powers. Eventually, MacTaggert became Xavier's "silent partner" in founding this school, which trained the team of mutant adventurers known as the X-Men. When Moira's son began to manifest destructive mutant powers, she attempted to cure him, but her efforts were in vain, and she was forced to keep him imprisoned at her Mutant Research Center. Moira took as her ward the orphaned Scots girl Rahne Sinclair, who would herself demonstrate mutant powers in years to come. During the early years of Xavier's Academy, Moira founded and ran a secondary facility not far from the Xavier School, in which she had her own students - gathered together youths who she took out of bad situations and adopted as her wards, training them in their abilities without the highly militant regimen of Charles' X-Men. Krakoa When Krakoa captured the original X-Men , it was Moira's children whom Charles went to first-not the second team of X-Men, as it was originally believed - putting them through the psionic equivalent of boot camp and allowing them to believe they were being trained over months as X-Men. Charles took them from Moira's care immediately. Moira's children were apparently all killed, and Xavier suppressed even the memory of them from his own students, to keep them from going back to save them. Significant portions of Moira's history that were apparently blocked from her memory by Charles Xavier. Only Moira's project tapes, one made directly after the event, before Xavier could suppress the memories, and an abandoned research center remained as clues. Moira MacTaggert finally made her presence known to the X-Men when she arrived at their doorstep claiming to be their new housekeeper . The X-Men soon learned her true profession and visited her Muir Isle research center. Moira fell in love with Sean Cassidy, the X-Man known as the Banshee, and their relationship persisted on. Proteus Moira's son, Kevin, who was code-named "Mutant X" but called himself Proteus, escaped from confinement at Muir Isle and began using his powers to possess the bodies of others and drain their life energies and to warp people's perceptions of reality to terrorize the Scots countryside. The X-Men attempted to stop Proteus, and Moira warned Joseph MacTaggert about him. (At this point it had been twenty years since she had left him.) Proteus took possession of his father's body, ravaging it, and attempted to kill his mother. Instead, however, Proteus was himself apparently destroyed by the X-Man Colossus. Joseph MacTaggert died as a result of being possessed by Proteus. New Mutants Sometime afterward, Moira discovered that Rahne Sinclair had the mutant ability to transform herself into a wolf-like form. Dr. MacTaggert brought Sinclair to Xavier and persuaded him to establish a new team of superhuman mutant trainees who became known as the New Mutants. Moira also became acquainted with another of Xavier's former lovers, Gabrielle Haller, and learned that Charles had a mutant son of his own, David. Moira treated the powerful but autistic David Haller for months before finally convincing Gaby to let Xavier see his son, and help with the case. Legacy Virus As the first human to contract the Legacy Virus, Moira was one of many frantically working on a cure, even to the point of self-quarantining herself at one stage. It is presumed her close proximity to mutants and/or the fact her child was a mutant caused her to be infected with the virus. Moira died as a result of internal injuries caused by the destruction of the Muir Isle facility by Mystique and her Brotherhood of Mutants. Just prior, Moira had discovered the cure to the new strain of the Legacy Virus that Mystique had created; one that only infected humans. Moira clung on to life long enough to survive a trans-Atlantic flight to transfer that information to Charles, then died in his arms. Moira was an active portion of Xavier's conscious as he worked on rebuilding Genosha. Her ghost also appeared in the rubble of Muir Island, directing Banshee to a hidden room full of video files. Recently during the events of Chaos War, Moira was one of the returning characters from the Underworld. So Moira and Banshee were briefly back in the land of the living. | Powers = | Abilities = *'Genius Intelligence:' Dr. Moira MacTaggert was one of the world's leading geneticists and possessed special expertise in the study of superhumanly powerful mutants. | Strength = Moira MacTaggert possessed the normal human strength of a woman of her age, height, and build who engages in moderate regular exercise. | Equipment = | Transportation = | Weapons = | Trivia = * Moira was the butt of a recurring joke about her coffee being too bad-tasting. Even Xavier mocked her about it sometimes. * David Haller, the son of Xavier, call her the woman who caused him pain while he was a patient on Muir Island and lacked control on his power. | Links = }} Category:Legacy Virus Victims Category:Kinross Family Category:Killed by Legacy Virus Category:Doctors Category:Nobel Prizes Category:Oxford University Student